Pepperoni and Olives
by Alpha-alien
Summary: On an alien planet, the team meet a young alien who just wants to make her father proud of her. Can they convince him that she's not just a disappointment? /just a oneshot


Quick note: Oh. Uh, hey. Yeah, I uh... haven't been here a while.

But I wrote a thing and figured "just post it". So I did.

You, person reading this, probably haven't read my other stuff and therefor have no clue why I'm doing this, but if one of you have, then you know it's been like 2 years since I wrote anything here.

I'm very sorry. I hope this will help motivate me.

* * *

The mission had started out simple enough: Princess Allura had managed to find and get in contact with a race that had been allies of the Alteans against the Galra back when the war first began.

The Castle had landed on a small planet, and the Paladins, Allura and Coran were currently gathered in a room. General Draqov had been addressing the group, speaking with them to trade information.

It was honestly all very boring, but Shiro, Allura and Coran seemed into it. So more power to them?

The tediousness of it all came to an end when a frightened cry broke out, followed by a small body falling from an airduct in the ceiling and landing on Hunk. Hunk was fine, of course, and he managed to safely catch the one who fell.

"Are you okay?" the yellow Paladin asked, looking to who he had in his arms.

The young girl let out a weak noise, before looking up, "Yeah. Um, sorry-" With another yelp General Draqov had grabbed her by the back of her shirt and held her up, which caused the girl to squirm and try to break free.

"What are you doing here?" the General asked, glaring to the girl, who had begun kicking at his chest.

"Evesdropping? Duh." the girl said, pouting, "Not like you'll let me in here to listen legitly. Hey!" She was thrown towards two guards, who had come inside during the commotion, and once again grabbed. "Let me go! I've got just as much of a right to be here as anyone!"

"Take her back to her room and make sure she doesn't leave this time!" Draqov snapped, glaring.

"You can't lock me in my room!" the girl protested, flailing her feet in an attempt to not be dragged off. "I'm not a child! Hey, let me go! Knock it off you jerkface! I want to talk to my dad!" she huffed, grunting as she was dragged out of the room. "You can't keep ignoring me!"

And with that last protest the door was closed, though the girl's yelling and protesting could be heard as she was taken down the hall as she hurled insults at the guards.

"So, uh... who was that?" Lance asked, breaking the awkward silence in the group.

"No one of importance." Draqov said, adjusting his coat.

"But, didn't she say you were her dad?" Pidge said, looking up to the general. He'd tense, glaring as he repeated himself.

"No one important." he cleared his throat and began to pick up the conversation once more.

xxxxx

The meeting ended, finally, and the group had been shown to the dining hall for a feast and a celebration of their groups allying once again. The girl who had been taken out of the meeting room wasn't present. Pidge had looked over the dining hall twice before bringing it up with the rest of the team, quietly.

"You noticed too?" Shiro said, looking over to the youngest Paladin.

"Why are you even looking for her?" the blue Paladin asked, taking a large bite of food. "You like her or something?"  
"That's really not something I want to hear from you, Lance." the youngest said, glaring slightly. "I'm just worried, that's all. She sounded like she wanted to say something but the general just threw her out without a second thought."  
"I'm sure General Draqov knows what he's doing." Lance said, reaching for some more food, wanting to get it before Hunk had a chance to clear another plate.

"That was still pretty cold, treating his daughter like that." Pidge said, before the conversation was dropped and the group began to discuss other things.

xxxxx

As the Paladins left to go back to the Castle, Keith was the first to hear something. He stopped and looked over to his left. "Hey, did you guys hear something?"  
"Hunk farting?" Lance said, earing _that_ look from everyone. In the silence, everyone was able to hear it, and they all followed the noise.

Up on the wall, hanging out of a window, the same girl was trying, desperately, to reach for a nearby branch. She grunted again, mumbling under her breath, before managing to grab it and pulled herself the rest of the way out of the window.

She sighed, looking back into her room, making sure no one was entering her room and stuck out her tongue and the unseen guards. "Lock me up in my room. I grew three inches this year!" she said, smugly, to herself. "I didn't have to stretch nearly as far this time!" She began to laugh, triumphantly, and began to swing her body to try and wrap her legs around the branch, though stopped when she heard a crack. She looked up, seeing the branch she was holding onto bend slightly. "Uh-oh."

With a yelp the branch broke and she began to fall, her arms flailing. The Paladins hurried over, and once more Hunk managed to catch her. "Are you okay?"  
"Yeah." the girl mumbled, though looked up to him. "Um, didn't we already do this?"

After the yellow Paladin placed her on her feet, she brushed herself down, reaching up into her hair to take out a twig and flicked it away. "Thank you." she said, smiling up to them. "Now... you're not going to tell the general I snuck out of my room, are you?"

The five Paladins looked between one another, before Shiro spoke up. "Um, no?"

"Good." the girl said, her smile growing, "Then, come with me. If General Draqov won't listen to me, then maybe he'll listen to you guys." she turned, waving her arm for them to follow her before she hurried off into the forest. The group looked between each other before they followed her.

After a bit of walking, the girl lead them to a building, overrun with foliage and looking rundown. "He doesn't come out here, anymore." the girl said, walking up the stairs to the door and opened it. "So I can come out here and know he won't find me." she fumbled a bit before hitting a button, turning on the lights.

Inside the cabin was littered with a random assortment of... junk. A lot of junk.

"What is this place?" Pidge asked, frowning as she and the rest of the Paladins began to walk around the area, each picking up a different ... thing.

"This place used to belong to my mother." the girl said, "I think. She wrote about it a lot in her diary; her and dad would come out here to get away from everyone and just be together. Said I was conceived here."

"That's a little personal." Lance said, making a face.

"So General Draqov is your father?" Shiro asked, looking over to the girl, who nodded.

"Not that he'll tell you." she said, before smiling and gave a salute. "My name is Zaz, General Draqov's only child."

"What's this?" Lance asked, holing up a small object.

"That? That's a bomb." Zaz said, causing the blue Paladin to panic and quickly put it back down, backing away from it. "I've been trying to figure out what's wrong with it, but I think it's just borked." She looked around, before smiling, picking up another item, this one looking like an Atari joystick controller. "This is really cool, though! Or... it will be."

"What is it?" Pidge asked, looking at it.

"Well, it's supposed to be a partical barrier generator." Zaz said, "It's a bit weaker than normal ones, but if I can get it to work then it can come in handy for tactical retreats."

"What's wrong with it?" Hunk asked, leaning closer to look at the thing.

"Well, it kind of works, already," the girl said, pushing a few buttons and moved the joystick around. "but when I turn it on..." She pushed another button and a loud _bang_ sounded, followed by cloud of smoke. "that happens."

"Ah."

Zaz carefully set the device down, rubbing her face. "Anyway, I've been collecting and disecting everything General Draqov and his men discard as _defective_. I've been able to figure out what's wrong with a lot of them, but when I try and talk to him and tell him he just calls for some of his men to take me back to my room."

"So, you want us to try and talk to him?" Shiro asked. "You want us to tell him what's wrong with his stuff?"  
"If you want," she said, "but I'd prefer if you could tell him that I know what I'm talking about and get him to give me a chance." she frowned a bit, looking down. "He's never listened to me, I just... I just want him to be proud of me."

"Why won't he listen to you?" Pidge asked, finally, "I mean, if you're this smart and can do all of this, why won't he let you talk to him?"

Zaz began to frown more, moving to sit down, fussing with another object in the room. "Well, I've... disappointed him." she said. "Three times. A-and in our culture, if a child disappoints their parents three times, then their parents have a right to disown that child."

"What? That's so messed up!" Lance said, "That's a stupid law! If we had that on Earth, I'd have been disowned before I was fifteen!"

"Only fifteen?" Keith said, looking over to him, smirking a bit when the blue Paladin glared.

"What... did you do?" the smallest Paladin asked, looking to her.

"When she was pregnant, my mom got sick," Zaz said, looking down, "she didn't get better, and even when the doctors and dad told her it wasn't worth the risk, she went ahead and had me. Dad blames me for it, and that was the second time I disappointed him."

"What about the first?" Lance asked, the group all now looking to her as she was talking.

"The first was when I wasn't born a boy." Zaz looked towards the group, smiling, albeit sadly, "Dad was really wanting a boy; a strong son who he could train to be a great soldier. So after my mom died, he began to treat me like a boy, introduce me as his son. But when I got older, I told him I didn't want to be his son. So he... just started to ignore me." She frowned a bit, her feet shifting slightly, "Nothing I ever did would get him acknowledge me, and as I got older he'd just start locking me in my room so I wouldn't _annoy_ _him_."

"What?!" Pidge said, glaring, "How is you being a girl a disappointment?!" She gritted her teeth, "A girl can do just as much as a boy can!"

Zaz smiled, looking over to youngest Paladin, "It doesn't do anything to get mad about it," she said, "but... thank you for saying that. It does make me feel better." She looked down, sighing a bit before she stood up. "But now that you all are here, he'll listen to you! You can tell him that I can do things for him. I can build and fix things, and I can help his science team find flaws." Her eyes seemed to light up, "If he hears from the Paladins of Voltron that I can do stuff, then he'll have to listen!"

"Well, I guess we could try," Shiro said, "if you really think that will help."

xxxxx

Throughout the time that team Voltron was on the planet they all tried, in their own ways, to talk with General Draqov about his daughter, though the general seemed completely disinterested in anything they all had to say.

This night, Pidge had gone to see Zaz in her mother's cabin, having offered to help her get the Portable Partical Barrier working without blowing up.

"So, you're from Earth?" Zaz asked, looking over. "What's it like?"

"Uh," the green Paladin frowned, trying to chose her words, "well. It's... nice." she smiled a bit, "It's got a beautiful blue sky, and the grass is really green. There's... flowers." Her smile began to falter, "I never really went out, much. I liked being inside at my computer."

"It still sounds really nice." Zaz said, smiling, "Do you think you could take me there?"

The question caught Pidge off guard. "T-take you?" she repeated, looking back over to the alien girl. "Um... yeah. Sure, I guess? I don't know when I'll be able to go back, but... I think I could probably take you to Earth with me." She let out a startled cry when Zaz lunged forward and hugged her.

"Yay! I can't wait!" she said, giggling happily. She pulled back, her face tinted red. "What do you want to do when we get to Earth?"

"Uh... I guess we can get a pizza?" the green Paladin said, "I mean, you probably will want to try Earth food, right?"

"What's pizza?" Zaz asked, carefully sitting down, crossing her legs.

"It's... bread. But it's got tomato and cheese on it. And you can put other things on it, too." Pidge began to smile, "I like getting pepperoni and olives on mine."

Zaz looked to her for a bit, before the green Paladin sighed, "You... don't know what half of what I said is, do you?"  
"Nope," the other girl admitted, blushing. She smiled a bit more, "but I really want to try that. So, let's get a pizza when we get to Earth!"

Pidge smiled more, "Yeah. I promise. We'll have a pizza first thing back on Earth."

xxxxx

Before she left, Pidge had given Zaz a small communicator, letting her know that she could contact anyone if she ever got in trouble or needed help.

Zaz had stayed in the cabin a bit longer, sighing as she looked through everything before pocketing the Portable Particle Barrier, hoping that in showing it to her father, he'd finally see she could help him and turned the lights off.

She began to open the door to the cabin, though quickly shut it when she heard a voice. She moved to the window, peering out to see who it was outside.

Sapu, one of General Draqov's men, was looking around, sneaking up to the cabin. In a panic, Zaz hurried to the door and locked it, bracing her body against it as she heard Sapu try and open it. She held her breath, listening, and relaxed when she heard him walk away. She carefully went back to the window, seeing him standing in front of the cabin and frowned.

"What is he doing here?" she murmured, doing her best to stay out of sight. "He better go away. I don't want to spend the night in this place. Again..." She frowned, seeing him move his arm up, revealing something on his arm, and she squinted, seeing ... something flash from it, and a two-way monitor crackled, though she couldn't see _who_ Sapu was talking to.

"We have them here." Sapu said, "Once we get them into position, we'll spring the trap and you'll be able to come and claim the Lions."

"What?" Zaz's eyes went wide as she listened, trying to stay hidden.

"And the Paladins?" the voice came from the monitor.

"They will be dealt with." Sapu said, smiling. "You don't have to worry about them."

"Very good. We'll have our men ready soon."

"Vrepit Sa." Sapu said, before turning the monitor off, and, with one more look around, began to make his way back towards the building.

Once he was out of sight, Zaz hurried back to the door and opened it, not bothering to close it behind her as she hurried back, her heart racing.

She had to tell her father! He'd be able to warn the Paladins.

xxxxx

"Father!" Zaz called out, seeing him down the hall, speaking with someone. "Father, I need to talk to you!"

"Not now." Draqov said, looking annoyed.

"It's important!" she said, huffing, "It's about the Galra!"

That seemed to get his attention. He looked over to her, "What do you mean?"

"Father, I just saw one of your mean conspiring with the Galra," she said, standing straighter. "he's planning to trap the Paladins so the Galra can get their hands on the Lions."

General Draqov looked to her, before dismissing who he'd been talking to. "Come with me." he said, before turning to walk down the hall. "We should find somewhere private to talk."

Zaz looked to him, before managing to smile. Her father was... actually going to listen to her.

She hurried after him, trying to speak with him, though he simply shushed her each time. She finally figured he didn't want anyone else overhearing them.

But, then, why did he just dismiss that other soldier...?

"Um, dad?" Zaz asked, frowning, "Where-"  
"In here." Draqov said, opening a door. When his daughter stepped inside, he followed, though left the door open. "Now, who did you see?"  
"It... it was Sapu." she said, looking up to him. "I heard him, out in the woods near mom's cabin! I don't know who he was talking to, but he said he's planning to trap the Paladins!"  
"Are you sure?" her father asked. "Are you absolutely positve in what you saw?"  
"Yes!" she said, "Father, you have to tell the Paladins! You have to warn them not to trust Sapu!"

General Draqov looked to her and smiled. "Well," he moved, walking back out of the room. Zaz frowned, starting to follow him, though let out a noise when he turned back and hit her, sending her onto her back. "we'll just have to make sure you don't go telling them about our little _surprise_."

"D-dad?" Zaz winced, carefully sitting up, though gave out a cry when the door was closed and locked. "Dad!? What are you doing?" She hurred to the door, trying to open it before beginning to pound on the door. "Open this door!"

"Quiet!" General Draqov said, "You've disappointed me yet again." He sighed, "And here I hoped that you'd be able to be of some use."

"Dad?" the alien girl frowned, feeling herself tear up. "Dad, please... y-you can't-"  
"I'm not your father." Draqov said, "I have no child."

And with that, he left. Zaz had begun to cry harder, hearing those words. She sunk down to her knees, trying her best to brace herself against the door.

She gasped, rubbing her her eyes, before panic began to set in. She needed to warn them. She needed to let them know what was about to happen. But a look around the room showed that there was no way out.

"Oh no," she muttered, pacing around. "oh no, no no no no no no..." She bit her lip, "I have to do something. I have to..." She stopped, remembered what Pidge had given her and looked through her bag, taking out the communicator. Once she remembered how Pidge had said to use it she took a deep breath.

"Pidge? Pidge can you hear me?"

xxxxx

Team Voltron had been asked to gather in the dining hall. Something about a celebration before they left.

They met up with General Draqov, who was currently walking ahead of them, speaking with Shiro, though a voice cut through and everyone looked back towards the smalled Paladin.

 _"Pidge?! This is important!"_

Pidge blushed, laughing nervously, "Um, sorry," she said, "e-excuse me." She moved her helmet, "Zaz?"

 _"Pidge?"_ Zaz's voice came through, _"Pidge, you can't trust my father! Or anyone!"_

General Draqov glared, looking towards his men.

 _"It's a trap! They're working with the Galra!_ "

With a silent cue, his men had the Paladins surrounded, weapons raised.

"I didn't think that child could disappoint me further." Draqov said, sighing, "But, I guess that's the problem with kids these days. They don't listen to anyone." He shrugged, before smiling. "You will comply, won't you? I'd hate for this to get messy. Just hand over your Lions, and I promise this will be painless."

"Not gonna happen." Shiro said, as the rest of the team grabbed their bayards. The fight was on.

xxxxx

Shiro was stuck in combat with Sapu his enhanced prosthetic arm reverberating with every clash of the soldier's sword. Keith side stepped a shot from one of their guns and charged forward with his shield slamming it against two of the soldier's throwing them to the ground.

Lance had left his bayard in his Lion.

" _YOU LEFT YOUR BAYARD IN YOUR LION_?" Keith shouted throwing up his shield as the solider's shot at them.

"I didn't think we were going to be fighting them!" He shouted back at Keith. Pidge clutched her bayard angrily

"Would you two stop bickering and focus?" She snapped. She shot the hook out and caught one of the soldier's legs and flung him into his comrade which gave Hunk an opening to bash his large gun into a solider trying to shoot Lance. Her eyes stayed on Draqov as they fought through his small battalion. Yet everytime she tried to get closer she was cut off by another solider blocking her path.

Shiro had bested Sapu and was engaged with another fighter while Lance grimaced behind his shield.

Eventually, Pidge had somehow found herself fighting off with General Draqov. She glared, "Where is Zaz?"

"Who cares?" Draqov asked, glaring as he lunched, swinging his sword at her. "It's not going to matter! Once the Galra get here, she'll share the same fate as you!"  
"Zaz cares about you, you know!" the Paladin said, dodging his attack. "She's is way better than you give her credit for!" She gave a noise, jumping out of the way of another attack. "She's smart and brave, and she just wants you to be proud of who she's become!"

"Proud?" the general scoffed, "If she wanted me to be proud of her, then she should be something worth praise! A weak girl has no place in my bloodline!" He gave out a startled cry when Pidge glared and lunged forward, not with her Bayard, but with her fist, punching him square in the face. He stumbled back, and the Paladin used the momentum to bring him down all the way, pinning him down, his weapon sliding out of his reach.

"How about a news flash then, Jerkface?" Pidge said, glaring, " _I'm_ a girl!" She moved her Bayard, pointing it down at him. "Now tell me where she is!"

Draqov looked up to her, his eyes wide. "W...w-what?" he asked, letting out a noise when he was punched again, groaning as his nose started to bleed.

" _I said where is she?!"_

 _xxxxx_

After defeating Draqov's men, the Paladins managed to find where Zaz had been locked away. Pidge volunteered to go after her while the others hurried out to their Lions to fight the Galra that had landed.

Pidge looked around, frowning, "Zaz?" she called out, "Zaz, can you hear me?" Her father had said she'd been down here, but she was worried that he'd lied about it.

"Pidge?" Zaz looked to the door, hurrying towards it and began pounding her fist against it. "Pidge! I'm over here!" She smiled when the youngest Paladin managed to find and open the door, reaching out and hugging her. "You're okay! I'm so glad!" she said, causing Pidge to blush, though smiled and returned her hug.

"Come on," she said, pulling back from the hug. "we have to get you to the Castle."

"This way," Zaz said, pointing down the hall. "There's a short cut down here, we can get out of here faster."

"Alright," the green Paladin adjusted her helmet, "Guys? I found Zaz, we're heading back to the Castle."

 _"Great job."_ Shiro said, causing Pidge to smile, though she quickly frowned when Lance piped up.

 _"Hurry up and get your girlfriend there so you can help us!_ "  
"She's not-" Pidge said, before groaning, "never mind." It wasn't worth the oxygen to argue with him, and now wasn't even the right time.

She looked over to Zaz, "Come on."

The two took off down the hall, Zaz leading the way, though as they turned a corner Zaz gave out a noise, seeing Galra and her father's men blocking their way.

"Oh... not good." she said as Pidge rounded the corner, seeing the sight as well.

"Quiznak." the Paladin said, sighing. She grabbed onto the alien's wrist. "Come on, this way!"

With a yelp, the two took off back down the way Pidge had taken to get there. She formed her shield and moved it behind them to try and block the barrage of lasers that were now following them.

Granted, this way there were more of Draqov's men, aiming their weapons at the two.

"This way!" Zaz said, pointing down a different hall. "We might be able to get out here!"

"I hope you're right," Pidge said, before the two took off down the way. They looked back as the two groups converged. "I don't think we're going to block all those shots."

Zaz looked back as well, before looking through her pocket. "Wait! Maybe this will hold them off!" she said, showing off the Portable Particle Barrier.

"Does it even work?" the green Paladin asked.

"One way to find out." the alien said, fussing with it. "I hope it does." She pointed it behind them and, with a push of the button, the barrier was raised, blocking the group from following after them.

"It worked!" Zaz said, her eyes lighting up, and she giggled. "It worked! Pidge, it worked!"  
"Yeah," Pidge said, smiling more, "but, let's celebrate after we get out of here."  
"Oh, right." the other girl blushed, though smiled before the two took off once more towards the door as the group behind them began shooting, trying to take down the barrier.

Once they got closer to the door, however, there was a loud noise as a wall was blown up, letting more soldiers behind them.

"Ah, come on!" Pidge said, groaning. "Can you get that thing working again?"  
"I-I don't know," Zaz said, frowning as she fusssed with the device. "That was the first time it's ever worked, a-and I don't know if I can get it to work twice. If I did, it wouldn't be very strong." With that, she began to push a few more buttons, aiming it behind them, though stopped. "D-dad...?"

"I don't want any prisoners!" Draqov said, "Just get rid of them! Both of them!"

Zaz frowned, panicking, though Pidge grabbed her arm, "Come on! We have to get out of here!" She gave out a yelp, pulling her shield back up to try blocking the newest barrage of lasers. The two began to run once more, though soon a stray laser managed to find its way past the shield and hit Zaz's leg. "Zaz!"

The two stopped once more, Pidge kneeling down, "Come on, just lean on me." She frowned, once more trying to block the lasers.

"Pidge, you can't keep that up if you're helping me," Zaz said, frowning as she tried to get back to her feet, though winced. She looked down to the device in her hand, squeezing it.

"I can!" the green Paladin said, looking back towards her. She frowned, seeing Zaz look through her pockets once more. "Zaz, please, we have to go."

Zaz managed to get to her feet after a few moments, and looked over to Pidge, smiling. She reached out, holding onto her hand, giving her a small box.

"Pidge," she said, "you have to get back to your Lion. You have to help your team."  
"Not until I get you out of here." Pidge repeated, though looked down to what was in her hand. "What's -"

She was cut off as Zaz leaned over, kissing her cheek.

"I wish we could have gotten closer."

Pidge blushed, looking to her as she was pushed back and the device was used, blocking Pidge from getting to Zaz. "No!" Pidge frowned, hitting the barrier. "Zaz! Zaz, what are you doing?!" She began to tear up, seeing the group closing in. "Zaz, lower this thing and let's go!"

Zaz looked over to her, smiling as she moved her hand, pressing it against the barrier. "Goodbye, Pidge." she said.

A stray shot hit her back, and Zaz's eyes glazed, though she continued to smile until she began to slide down to her knees, the Portable Particle Barrier falling to the ground.

Pidge looked down, her eyes wide as she held tightly onto the box. "Zaz..." she breathed out, kneeling down, "Zaz. Zaz! You.. you can't!" She looked back towards the crowd, seeing Draqov holding a laser pistol, and she knew it was him. She came to a stand once more, gritting her teeth, fulling intent on taking on the whole group just to get at Draqov, though a voice broke through her communicator.

 _"Pidge?!"_ Shiro called out, _"Pidge, hurry! We need you out here!"_  
"He..." Pidge found herself crying, "he killed her!" She gasped, "He killed her, Shiro!"  
 _"What?"_ Hunk came through, _"What are you talking about?"_  
 _"Pidge,"_ Shiro said, _"we need you! Get to your Lion!"_  
"But Zaz-" she knew he was right, but all she could see was red. Her blood boiled and her heart ached.

A few lasers hitting the barrier managed to draw her attention back, and she took a shaky step back. She looked down to where Zaz's body was laying, her own shaking in rage, though she forced herself to run, hurrying back to the Castle and to her Lion.

She wasn't about to let Zaz's death be in vain. That would be her revenge. And maybe a few more punches to Draqov's face.

xxxxx

Back outside, and once the team had managed to defeat the Galra ship, the five gathered around Draqov, who was on the ground and groaning. He looked up, and gave out a yelp when Pidge ran forward, hitting him in the face. The others stared at the youngest Paladin as she pinned the man down, feeling that surge of anger return. She continued to hit him, yelling, though felt a pair of hands grab onto her arms and pulled her back.

"Pidge!" Shiro said, though the green Paladin kicked out her legs, trying to hit the general. "Pidge, that's enough!"  
"No it's not!" she yelled, hot tears pouring down her face. "He killed her! He killed Zaz!" She gasped, panting as she looked down at him. "I'm going to kill him!"

"No, you're not." Shiro said, looking down to her, "That's not going to solve anything. It won't bring back Zaz."  
"But-" she looked up, her eyes wet as she began taking large breaths. "Shiro!" Her body began to tremble and when Shrio's grip loosened, she fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands, crying.

xxxxx

Back inside the Castle, the team had taken off, Draqov having been taken care of by the authorities, along with what remained of his army. Pidge had immediately gone to her room and sat on her bed, hugging her pillow tight. She looked to her table, seeing the box that Zaz had given her, though every time she'd tried to open it, her hands had shook and she couldn't bring herself to it. Just looking at it made her hurt. She wanted to throw it out the airlock, but she knew that she couldn't do that, either.

A knock came at her door.

"Go away." she said, though shoved her face into her pillow when Shiro opened the door anyway and stepped inside.

"Pidge," he said, looking to her. "how are you holding up?"

"How?" she said, raising her head and looked to him, glaring. "How am I holding up? My friend _died_! I watched her die right in _front of me_ , Shiro! And I couldn't do anything!" She found herself crying again. "She... she sacrificed herself, a-and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save her, o-or protect her." She moved her hands, rubbing at her eyes, trying to push away the tears.

Shiro watched her for a moment, before moving his hand to her back. "I think she'd be happy," he said after a moment, "that you didn't kill her father."

"But," Pidge raised her head, looking towards him. "he didn't care! He didn't even look upset or anything about shooting his own daughter like that!"

"True," he said, "but you knew Zaz, probably better than any of us. Do you think she'd be happy if you'd killed him?"

It took a moment, before Pidge looked down. "No." she said. "She... she wouldn't have wanted that." She closed her eyes, gripping her pillow tighter. "But _I_ wanted it, Shiro. _I_ wanted to kill him. Even though I knew it wouldn't do anything, I... I couldn't think of anything but killing him." Her gaze moved, once more to the box sitting on her table.

"It hurts." she said. "She was my friend. We... I promised her that once we could go back, I-I'd take her back to Earth with me." she felt tears falling down her cheeks, but she didn't bring herself to wipe them away. "I told her that we'd have a pizza. I-I kept thinking about... about all the places I could take her, a-and we could even play some video games."

Shiro's gaze moved, following Pidge's to the box, before he smiled. "It won't stop hurting," he said, "but... it'll hurt less over time." He gently patted her back, before he stood up. "Everyone's worried about you. Once you think you're ready, you can come talk to us."

Pidge looked over to him, before nodding. "Yeah, okay." she said, looking down as the black Paladin left her room, closing the door behind him.

She'd stay on her bed, before slowling moving, taking the box and, after taking a deep breath, opened it.

Inside were a few odd knick-knacks; a small, shiny blue piece of metal wrapped around with wire and attached to a chain to make a necklace, a strange, pudgy plush toy, some smaller pieces that, as far as Pidge could tell, were just various bits and parts that didn't fit together, and a note.

 _Pidge,_

 _I wanted to give this to you before you left, because I didn't want you to forget about me. I really can't wait to go to Earth with you! I know it's going to be amazing!_

 _This box has all the things that are important to me, but I want you to hold onto them for me. You can keep the necklace, though. I made it special for you. I know it's just junk, and you don't have to wear it, but it'd mean a lot if you at least kept it._

 _Everything else in here are just things that I thought are neat. Oh, but the toy is mine. I had it since I was small. My mother made it for me, and apart from her diary, it's all I have of her. Take care of it, okay?_

 _You're a really amazing person, Pidge. I don't want you to forget about me. You probably meet a lot of awesome people out there in space, so I don't want to just be another person you've met. I want you to be able to remember me, and when you see me again you can say "Hey, it's Zaz!" not "Who are you?"_

 _I have so many things I want to tell you in this note, but I know I can't say them. So I'll save them until I can see you again._

 _I won't say goodbye. That's too final. Instead, I'll see you. Whether it's sooner or later, I don't know, but I know I will definitely see you again Pidge._

 _Please take care of yourself._

 _Zaz_

Pidge frowned, rubbing her eyes as she tried her best not to stain the note, before she folded it up and put it, along with everything else, back into the box. She took a shaky breath, leaning her head back. After a moment she'd manage to smile.

Once she got back to Earth, the first thing she'd do was get a pizza. With pepperoni and olives.


End file.
